She recalled how she used to take her best photos of people by distracting them and getting candid shots.

“I always felt I got the best shots unexpectedly - never what you plan,” she says. “I felt like that really carried over with the cats.”

She used old furniture in some of the photos to establish the period feel.

Other cat backdrops were provided by Jane’s friend, author and photographer Sally Keehn, who happened to be taking an “English Literature on Location” tour in the United Kingdom.

Portland graphic designer Kathryn Hathaway, an old friend of Guyol’s, incorporated the cats into period settings using Photoshop.

The publication is more than six years in the making. Guyol and Jane began querying agents about their concept in October 2006 (several years before the publication of “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”).

With each rejection, they tweaked their concept even more, but kept emphasizing the universal appeal of both Jane Austen and cats.

They found some unexpected challenges along the way.

“One of the things we learned when started putting it together is, it had altogether too many mice in it,” Guyol notes.

For authenticity, they researched nature books to find other small animals that English felines might feasibly chase.

The terms used to describe cat vocalizations also proved redundant, so Guyol found a scholarly paper on cat vocalization that proved more useful than a thesaurus.

They worked to keep the book entertaining even for people who can't recite the original version by heart.

“We had to find things that lent themselves to being illustrated but also kept some continuity in the story,” Guyol says, “so that even if you weren’t familiar with Pride and Prejudice, you would be able to get what was going on.”

They conducted most of the work via e-mail. To put it all together, Guyol flew to Jane’s Pennsylvania home, where they spent several weeks revising and matching photos with text and writing silly captions.

The result is mash-up of a “kittified” summary, with excerpts of the original version sprinkled in throughout the book in italics.

It’s a world where kitties pounce upon pianos and prance around drawing rooms, and “as every cat knows, a handsome young tom in possession of his own territory must be in want of a mate.”

For now, the two friends will continue to enjoy their weekly phone appointment and celebrate their first official collaboration coming to fruition.

“Having a visit with Debbie is always fun,” Jane says. “Working with her is like the icing on the cake.”

If you go: Debbie Guyol will give a reading of “Pride and Prejudice and Kitties” at 7 p.m. Monday at Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 S.W. Cedar Hills Blvd. in Beaverton. The event will include cookies and a book giveaway.

She will also give a reading at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Liberty Bay Books, 18881 D Front St. in Poulsbo, Wash, and at 7 p.m. on May 7 at Broadway Books, 1714 N.E. Broadway in Portland.